Household consumption expenditure behaviour towards outside ready-made food: Evidence from Bangladesh

Young and middle-aged people in Bangladesh are increasingly eating out. This paper examines consumer demand characteristics associated with consumption expenditure patterns toward eating out using the nationally representative Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey 2018-19 dataset, which is conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in all 64 districts of Bangladesh. Data from 5604 sample households and 20,717 individuals within those households were analysed for this study. The descriptive statistics highlight that gender, education, employment status, and occupation are significant individual-level characteristics related to having prepared outside food. People generally eat snacks and sample ready-made foods from local shops and the Haat/Bazar (market). Empirical evidence based on Cragg's double-hurdle model assesses that secondary or higher school education, family size, and annual food expenditure are important determinants of the likelihood of household participation in consumption and spending on eating out in the past week. In contrast, raising livestock noticeably reduces expenditures on eating outside meals. This study, therefore, recommends that educated households be aware of the adverse health effects of eating food prepared outside. In addition, livestock raising could complement the diet outside the home and decrease expenses on eating out.